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Dave - aren't you at least a bit upset that IT messed up the boards that hardly anyone is replying to your news stories? Many of us don't want to have to open another account to be able to post. We've opened Eagles accounts to talk about our favorite team, not to share our information w/ twitheads or faceplace. We enjoy your input and miss the relationships we've developed with people who are leaving because of what IT's been doing.

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It is an easy assessment to look at the points scored by the birds, and be skeptical, but that assessment would be incomplete, when looking at this offence. We lead the league in Offensive plays from scrimmage, which means that we are avoiding 3 and outs, and sustaining drives. We also lead the league in Time of Possession. We will win a ton of games doing that.

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It is an easy assessment to look at the points scored by the birds, and be skeptical, but that assessment would be incomplete, when looking at this offence. We lead the league in Offensive plays from scrimmage, which means that we are avoiding 3 and outs, and sustaining drives. We also lead the league in Time of Possession. We will win a ton of games doing that.

On ‎8‎/‎15‎/‎2018 at 5:51 PM, VaBeach_Eagle said:

This thread is specifically for technical issues with the EMB. You might want to start a new thread for your comment.

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Is it just me but on mobile when I click on the button that takes me to the newest post the page will jump up and down while loading. It’s annoying as hell. I’ll click something only to have it move up or down and I’ll end up clicking something else. Not sure I explained it well though

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Is it just me but on mobile when I click on the button that takes me to the newest post the page will jump up and down while loading. It’s annoying as hell. I’ll click something only to have it move up or down and I’ll end up clicking something else. Not sure I explained it well though

I know exactly what you mean. That happens when you go to a page that has a lot of Twitter posts as they take a few seconds to load, and often times expand greatly from the gray image that is seen before it displays properly.

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This drives me crazy... if you post two things in quote boxes, one after the other (in the same thread), the board will add the second quote into the first quote box. For an example, see this post:

If you go to try to edit it, to take the second quote out of the first quote box, you can't. The second quote box can't be edited at all.

In that example above, I did add a third quote so that it wouldn't be inside the Foles quote box, but I did that after the board did its thing and added the Cousins quote to the Foles one.

I think there's a time limit. If you wait a certain amount of time it will just create a new post but if you do it too quickly it'll just add on to your previous post unless someone else posts after your first one

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I think there's a time limit. If you wait a certain amount of time it will just create a new post but if you do it too quickly it'll just add on to your previous post unless someone else posts after your first one

It wasn't a separate posting. It happens when you try to have two quoted items in the same post. So in that example, I posted the Nick Foles article and put it in quote tags. I dropped down a couple of spaces and added the Cousins article and put it in quote tags.

Then, submitted the reply, and the Cousins quote box was moved up inside the Foles quote box. I'll do it here (below), and see if it does it again. Again, this isn't two separate postings, both quote boxes are submitted in the same reply submission.

CHICAGO -- The ball bounced off the left upright, kicked the crossbar and trickled to the ground, altering the trajectory of two NFL franchises.

Had Cody Parkey's 43-yard field goal attempt sailed through the uprights Sunday night, the Chicago Bears would be readying this week for the divisional playoff round. The Philadelphia Eagles, on the other hand, would have entered the offseason prepared to bid farewell to backup quarterback Nick Foles, a likely free agent.

The Eagles' 16-15 victory, however, reinforced that their looming decision is more fraught and less obvious than it seems. There is no reason for them to give up on starter Carson Wentz, who suffered season-ending injuries in 2017 and 2018. But in Foles they have a proven winner whose performance over the past two seasons has reached a level of historic proportions that cannot be ignored.

His fourth-down touchdown throw to receiver Golden Tate on Sunday night might have been forgotten -- unfairly -- if Parkey had converted. Instead, it made Foles the winningest quarterback in Eagles history (by percentage, .676). He is one of five quarterbacks in the NFL's modern era to win five consecutive games as an underdog, according to the Elias Sports Bureau research. Yet we all continue to underestimate and misunderstand Foles when he starts for the Eagles.

"He lets people talk and do what they're going to do," Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham said. "But he doesn't get caught up in the hoorah. If stuff happens, it happens. If not, he's going to live to another day. I love his mentality. He never wavers."

There was a time when Foles' performance with the Eagles seemed a perfect, if short-term, storm. That stage has passed. How many big games do the Eagles need to win with Foles before the conversation becomes sticky?

I think we're getting there -- if we aren't there already. Special things happen when Foles puts on the green and white. There has never been a quarterback in NFL history who has won a playoff game in consecutive seasons despite starting five or fewer games in each of those regular seasons, according to Elias research. In other words, backup quarterbacks never accomplish what Foles has.

So at the very least, the Eagles would be parting ways with a playoff-tested quarterback who has played at an unprecedented level when pressed into duty for two consecutive seasons. Is that smart team-building?

The objective answer is no, but reality might leave the Eagles with an imperfect choice. They can control Wentz's rookie contract for two more seasons. Foles, however, has a rare mutual option in his contract for 2019, meaning the Eagles can keep him if they want to pay out a $20 million salary. And even if they do, Foles can void the option by returning $2 million of his original signing bonus.

It's difficult to imagine the Eagles giving up on Wentz or wanting a $20 million backup quarterback. Nor does it seem likely that Foles would return just to sit when he almost certainly would have multiple options to start elsewhere. But he already has learned the fallacy of greener grass; he nearly retired after a failed run as a starter for the St. Louis Rams in 2015. Foles might be the rare player for whom a backup job in the right place is preferable to a starting role in a bad environment.

Foles sounded a bit wistful Sunday night, admitting he has been taking a moment "to reflect" and realize how good he has it with the Eagles.

"I realize that I'm blessed to be able to wear this jersey at least one more week," he said, "and I get to play with these guys one more week."

Foles had nothing close to a perfect game Sunday night. He threw two first-half interceptions before the Eagles limped into halftime with only three points. But he turned on the magic after the Eagles regained possession when trailing 15-10 with 4:48 remaining.

He completed 6 of 9 passes for 59 of the Eagles' 60 yards on the drive. Facing fourth down at the Bears' 2-yard line with 56 seconds left, Foles called timeout. On the sideline, he suggested to coach Doug Pederson a sprint-out pass, knowing the Bears were likely to blitz. Pederson agreed, a moment reminiscent of Foles' nomination of "Philly Special" during Super Bowl LII.

Right tackle Lane Johnson was struck once again by how calm Foles appeared in the moment as the quarterback jogged back to the huddle.

"It wasn't 'The Replacements,' where they have a good message there at the end," Johnson said. "It wasn't 'Friday Night Lights,' [where they say], 'Let's go boys, let's go fetch the state championship.' It was, 'Call the play, and let's go see if we can score.'"

Foles found Tate near the pylon and fired a perfect pass.

"We always talk about just staying in the moment," Foles said. "That's been what I've been focusing on, what we've been focusing on."

It will all end at some point. Perhaps it will be next week against the top-seeded New Orleans Saints. Maybe the Eagles will keep it going to the NFC Championship Game. Who knows? Maybe Foles will bring them back to the Super Bowl.

Whenever it does end, and no matter how it happens, how comfortable should the Eagles feel about letting Foles leave? Given Wentz's health history, shouldn't the skill of his backup be a high roster priority? And as for Foles, is leaving the right decision?

Six weeks ago, those questions wouldn't have been difficult to answer. Now they are. NFL teams sometimes allow good players to leave in free agency. It almost never happens with quarterbacks. Foles isn't just a really good backup. He's the guy who has started all of the Eagles' biggest victories in the past two seasons. The chances of finding a comparable replacement are low. Should they let him go? It's a tougher decision than we might have realized.

Ok, that's #1... here's #2, let's see if this one is added to the first one:

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - JANUARY 06: Nick Foles #9 of the Philadelphia Eagles celebrates their 16 to 15 win over the Chicago Bears in the NFC Wild Card Playoff game at Soldier Field on January 06, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)Getty

Look, I am not here to make the case that Nick Foles is a better quarterback than Carson Wentz. There are plenty of people in the Philadelphia area who will do so, especially now, following his two touchdown passes in the second half and key part in a 16-15 victory over the Chicago Bears that quickly vaults to a treasured spot within the pantheon of wins in Philadelphia Eagles history.

Nor am I here to ignore the reasonable case that Wentz's future, the one the Eagles saw clearly when trading up to draft him, one validated by his 2017 regular season and far from destroyed by his difficult, post-injury 2018, is better than that of Foles, nearly four years Wentz's senior and absent many of the gifts that led Philadelphia to move on from Foles in the first place, years ago.

I am here as Clarence, Angel Second Class, to show you what life would be like if the Eagles follow through on their decision to trade Foles and keep Wentz, turning Philadelphia into Pottersville. Indeed, the only version of events where Carson Wentz would ever get a fair shot in Philadelphia now would require Clarence's skills, to turn Philadelphia into a place where Nick Foles never existed.

But he has. And the combination of where Wentz's career is financially, and the overwhelming burden that would come with Philadelphia choosing him over Foles now—there is virtually no version of events that works out to the benefit of Carson Wentz or the Eagles should they choose to commit to him. Not now, not after the Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots, the Philly Special and all that followed.

And certainly not after Foles has come out and once again lifted the Eagles—a franchise known for falling short of the outsized expectations the football-crazed city held for it for oh, say, five decades—into a place of unexpected joy once again.

To understand how wrenching it would be for the city, please consider Foles within the context of what it means to be a Philadelphia folk hero.

He has brought the city to the pinnacle no one else did. There are plenty of others who can and will explain why it happened, how it happened. No matter. The thing is done, it did happen, and it was Nick Foles at the center of it all, Nick Foles whose touchdown catch is tattooed on the bodies of Eagles fans, and in the minds of a city, now and for as long as there are people talking football in that town.

Now Foles has returned to deliver again—he's moved past Vince Papale territory and into the land of Rocky Balboa, with a sequel that combined the mysticism of that double-caromed missed field goal accomplished while Foles played with bruised ribs. (It is worth noting that Rocky Balboa is a fictional character, yet Foles is real. He gets extra credit for that.) He is the ultimate underdog, yet somehow has delivered what the city yearned for in a way I don't think is comparable with any other city I've ever seen, save Boston circa 2004.

Cleveland wanted to win... something. Someday the Jets will win again, and some portion of New York will feel this current Philadelphia euphoria, but not the entire area. The Eagles are the religion of Philadelphia, and now Nick Foles is the Joshua Quarterback.

None of which is Carson Wentz's fault, a man who has done all asked of him, felled only by injury and the fate of getting acclimated to NFL life just as a franchise experienced a moment that will never be exceeded, no matter how many Super Bowls it wins. It will never matter this much that the Eagles won again. Just ask the good people of Boston how 2007 or 2013 or 2018 compared to 2004. The Red Sox are Boston's religion like the Eagles are Philly's.

But Boston didn't have to decide whether to keep David Ortiz or not after 2004. Nor is any position in baseball comparable to quarterback in football, both in terms of overall action and specifically in the emotional psyche of a fanbase.

But the Eagles face a clear and unavoidable question this offseason. They have an option on Carson Wentz after 2019 that would pay him almost $30 million in 2020. If Wentz is the guy, then Foles and his salary (which is almost entirely non-guaranteed) need to go. So it doesn't just means committing to Wentz. It means giving him the most money anyone in Eagles history has ever received, and specifically jettisoning Nick Foles in order to do so.

Try and imagine what Philadelphia is going to be like when Carson Wentz is merely ordinary. Imagine Philly the first time he doesn't lead them deep into the playoffs, or misses a game due to injury, leaving the Eagles without Wentz OR Foles.

What possible glory can Carson Wentz accomplish at Lincoln Financial Field that will satisfy Eagles fans who watched him supplant Nick Foles—and make no mistake, though Wentz started each of the past two seasons as the first-team quarterback, that's what Wentz would be doing.

Wentz has a bright future in the NFL. There are any number of teams that would pay the Eagles a king's ransom to acquire him. But if he stays in Philadelphia now, after Foles has become Nick Foles, Philly legend forever, he doesn't simply need to outperform Foles moving forward for the town to embrace him. He'll need to win multiple Super Bowls himself, he'll need to be the Most Valuable Player in them, and he might just need to go back in time and win Super Bowl LII for good measure.

That is too high a bar for anyone. And when he doesn't—well, if you know Philly at all, they're never going to let him forget it, not for a single week. Every single three-and-out will be laced with the curdled sound of angry men in their number 9 jerseys as Wentz trudges off the field, the sound that would have greeted Ryan Howard during his long contract extension if he'd been signed to it right after Philadelphia made room for Howard by trading the rights to a cheesesteak in the shape of the LOVE statue.

Instead, the Eagles can throw in their lot with Foles, and Howie Roseman, too—both can point to championship pedigree now. It doesn't guarantee a thing about the future, but it is emotional insurance for a fan base, an inescapable bonding from the past.

We don't really know what Philadelphia will do to Foles should the day come when he doesn't lead the Eagles to victory, but take it from someone who has observed this city up close for decades: they honor their heroes. If Foles throws five interceptions next week in New Orleans, if he never wins another game, Nick Foles will be a hero in Philadelphia for the next 100 years. Even if he goes elsewhere, even if he chose to go elsewhere, that would still be true—witness Cleveland's response to LeBron James when he came back after winning a championship earlier this season.

Philly holds onto its grudges, nurses them—ask anyone who was around in September 1964 about the Phillies. But ask, too, about the 1950 Whiz Kids, who didn't even win the World Series. This town honors its heroes, too, every Reggie White 92 and Randall Cunningham 12 that marches into Lincoln Financial Field serves as proof of that, the roar of the Wells Fargo Center crowd when Allen Iverson visits, the collective aural embrace of Dan Baker declaiming Chase Utley's name at Citizens Bank Park.

Foles 9 will be worn around this town forever as the ultimate way to do embrace him once he's gone, and if he goes due to the franchise's own choice, it'll be a conversation starter as frequent, and as bitter, as Gene Mauch's decision to shorten his rotation back in '64, or the weather in Chicago on New Year's Eve 1988. It'll take the prize in Philadelphia as the tragedy mask to pair with the comedy mask the whole place wore after Super Bowl LII, and indeed, is wearing once again.

It's long been argued that the Philadelphia Eagles cannot trade Carson Wentz, no matter what the present circumstances, because of what the future might hold. Whatever happens now, Nick Foles has changed that calculation forever. The Philadelphia Eagles cannot keep Carson Wentz, through no fault of his own. Not over Nick Foles. Not in this town, after these moments of irrevocable joy.

The Dodgers traded Jackie Robinson a year after he brought a World Series, finally, to Brooklyn. Robinson retired. The Dodgers themselves left a year later. Trading Jackie Robinson remained almost as vivid a hurt for Brooklyn fans as losing the franchise itself.

There are some moments for a franchise and its fans that transcend any cold calculations of on-field performance alone. It's no one's fault. But we're past the point where Nick Foles can be traded, Carson Wentz kept and asked to be something he cannot be, no matter how great he becomes. Sunday night in Chicago only reinforced that.

Only Nick Foles will be Nick Foles. And Philadelphia isn't going to accept anybody else. Certainly not now.

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Oh. Was that a recent thing because the instagram videos is recent. It's also occurring on another forum I'm on so I'm thinking it's an embedding issue

Instragram videos? I was posting quoted articles. It's been happening to me in posts for the past 1 or 2 'Upgrades' that the board has gone through.

I'm going to try doing it a different way and see if it still does it. The one from above, I typed the quote tags manually. I'll use the quote button at the top of the post box and see if that's different. I'm just going to use the same article for both quotes.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - JANUARY 06: Nick Foles #9 of the Philadelphia Eagles celebrates their 16 to 15 win over the Chicago Bears in the NFC Wild Card Playoff game at Soldier Field on January 06, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)Getty

Look, I am not here to make the case that Nick Foles is a better quarterback than Carson Wentz. There are plenty of people in the Philadelphia area who will do so, especially now, following his two touchdown passes in the second half and key part in a 16-15 victory over the Chicago Bears that quickly vaults to a treasured spot within the pantheon of wins in Philadelphia Eagles history.

Nor am I here to ignore the reasonable case that Wentz's future, the one the Eagles saw clearly when trading up to draft him, one validated by his 2017 regular season and far from destroyed by his difficult, post-injury 2018, is better than that of Foles, nearly four years Wentz's senior and absent many of the gifts that led Philadelphia to move on from Foles in the first place, years ago.

I am here as Clarence, Angel Second Class, to show you what life would be like if the Eagles follow through on their decision to trade Foles and keep Wentz, turning Philadelphia into Pottersville. Indeed, the only version of events where Carson Wentz would ever get a fair shot in Philadelphia now would require Clarence's skills, to turn Philadelphia into a place where Nick Foles never existed.

But he has. And the combination of where Wentz's career is financially, and the overwhelming burden that would come with Philadelphia choosing him over Foles now—there is virtually no version of events that works out to the benefit of Carson Wentz or the Eagles should they choose to commit to him. Not now, not after the Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots, the Philly Special and all that followed.

And certainly not after Foles has come out and once again lifted the Eagles—a franchise known for falling short of the outsized expectations the football-crazed city held for it for oh, say, five decades—into a place of unexpected joy once again.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

To understand how wrenching it would be for the city, please consider Foles within the context of what it means to be a Philadelphia folk hero.

He has brought the city to the pinnacle no one else did. There are plenty of others who can and will explain why it happened, how it happened. No matter. The thing is done, it did happen, and it was Nick Foles at the center of it all, Nick Foles whose touchdown catch is tattooed on the bodies of Eagles fans, and in the minds of a city, now and for as long as there are people talking football in that town.

Now Foles has returned to deliver again—he's moved past Vince Papale territory and into the land of Rocky Balboa, with a sequel that combined the mysticism of that double-caromed missed field goal accomplished while Foles played with bruised ribs. (It is worth noting that Rocky Balboa is a fictional character, yet Foles is real. He gets extra credit for that.) He is the ultimate underdog, yet somehow has delivered what the city yearned for in a way I don't think is comparable with any other city I've ever seen, save Boston circa 2004.

Cleveland wanted to win... something. Someday the Jets will win again, and some portion of New York will feel this current Philadelphia euphoria, but not the entire area. The Eagles are the religion of Philadelphia, and now Nick Foles is the Joshua Quarterback.

None of which is Carson Wentz's fault, a man who has done all asked of him, felled only by injury and the fate of getting acclimated to NFL life just as a franchise experienced a moment that will never be exceeded, no matter how many Super Bowls it wins. It will never matter this much that the Eagles won again. Just ask the good people of Boston how 2007 or 2013 or 2018 compared to 2004. The Red Sox are Boston's religion like the Eagles are Philly's.

But Boston didn't have to decide whether to keep David Ortiz or not after 2004. Nor is any position in baseball comparable to quarterback in football, both in terms of overall action and specifically in the emotional psyche of a fanbase.

But the Eagles face a clear and unavoidable question this offseason. They have an option on Carson Wentz after 2019 that would pay him almost $30 million in 2020. If Wentz is the guy, then Foles and his salary (which is almost entirely non-guaranteed) need to go. So it doesn't just means committing to Wentz. It means giving him the most money anyone in Eagles history has ever received, and specifically jettisoning Nick Foles in order to do so.

Try and imagine what Philadelphia is going to be like when Carson Wentz is merely ordinary. Imagine Philly the first time he doesn't lead them deep into the playoffs, or misses a game due to injury, leaving the Eagles without Wentz OR Foles.

What possible glory can Carson Wentz accomplish at Lincoln Financial Field that will satisfy Eagles fans who watched him supplant Nick Foles—and make no mistake, though Wentz started each of the past two seasons as the first-team quarterback, that's what Wentz would be doing.

Wentz has a bright future in the NFL. There are any number of teams that would pay the Eagles a king's ransom to acquire him. But if he stays in Philadelphia now, after Foles has become Nick Foles, Philly legend forever, he doesn't simply need to outperform Foles moving forward for the town to embrace him. He'll need to win multiple Super Bowls himself, he'll need to be the Most Valuable Player in them, and he might just need to go back in time and win Super Bowl LII for good measure.

That is too high a bar for anyone. And when he doesn't—well, if you know Philly at all, they're never going to let him forget it, not for a single week. Every single three-and-out will be laced with the curdled sound of angry men in their number 9 jerseys as Wentz trudges off the field, the sound that would have greeted Ryan Howard during his long contract extension if he'd been signed to it right after Philadelphia made room for Howard by trading the rights to a cheesesteak in the shape of the LOVE statue.

Instead, the Eagles can throw in their lot with Foles, and Howie Roseman, too—both can point to championship pedigree now. It doesn't guarantee a thing about the future, but it is emotional insurance for a fan base, an inescapable bonding from the past.

We don't really know what Philadelphia will do to Foles should the day come when he doesn't lead the Eagles to victory, but take it from someone who has observed this city up close for decades: they honor their heroes. If Foles throws five interceptions next week in New Orleans, if he never wins another game, Nick Foles will be a hero in Philadelphia for the next 100 years. Even if he goes elsewhere, even if he chose to go elsewhere, that would still be true—witness Cleveland's response to LeBron James when he came back after winning a championship earlier this season.

Philly holds onto its grudges, nurses them—ask anyone who was around in September 1964 about the Phillies. But ask, too, about the 1950 Whiz Kids, who didn't even win the World Series. This town honors its heroes, too, every Reggie White 92 and Randall Cunningham 12 that marches into Lincoln Financial Field serves as proof of that, the roar of the Wells Fargo Center crowd when Allen Iverson visits, the collective aural embrace of Dan Baker declaiming Chase Utley's name at Citizens Bank Park.

Foles 9 will be worn around this town forever as the ultimate way to do embrace him once he's gone, and if he goes due to the franchise's own choice, it'll be a conversation starter as frequent, and as bitter, as Gene Mauch's decision to shorten his rotation back in '64, or the weather in Chicago on New Year's Eve 1988. It'll take the prize in Philadelphia as the tragedy mask to pair with the comedy mask the whole place wore after Super Bowl LII, and indeed, is wearing once again.

It's long been argued that the Philadelphia Eagles cannot trade Carson Wentz, no matter what the present circumstances, because of what the future might hold. Whatever happens now, Nick Foles has changed that calculation forever. The Philadelphia Eagles cannot keep Carson Wentz, through no fault of his own. Not over Nick Foles. Not in this town, after these moments of irrevocable joy.

The Dodgers traded Jackie Robinson a year after he brought a World Series, finally, to Brooklyn. Robinson retired. The Dodgers themselves left a year later. Trading Jackie Robinson remained almost as vivid a hurt for Brooklyn fans as losing the franchise itself.

There are some moments for a franchise and its fans that transcend any cold calculations of on-field performance alone. It's no one's fault. But we're past the point where Nick Foles can be traded, Carson Wentz kept and asked to be something he cannot be, no matter how great he becomes. Sunday night in Chicago only reinforced that.

Only Nick Foles will be Nick Foles. And Philadelphia isn't going to accept anybody else. Certainly not now.

I am a writer/editor on WNBA/NBA/NWSL/MLB/NCAA women's, men's basketball and more. I've worked to equalize coverage between men's and women's sports, both in my own work and through creating infrastructure for it to do so in more permanent ways. I'm always curious, always se...

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - JANUARY 06: Nick Foles #9 of the Philadelphia Eagles celebrates their 16 to 15 win over the Chicago Bears in the NFC Wild Card Playoff game at Soldier Field on January 06, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)Getty

Look, I am not here to make the case that Nick Foles is a better quarterback than Carson Wentz. There are plenty of people in the Philadelphia area who will do so, especially now, following his two touchdown passes in the second half and key part in a 16-15 victory over the Chicago Bears that quickly vaults to a treasured spot within the pantheon of wins in Philadelphia Eagles history.

Nor am I here to ignore the reasonable case that Wentz's future, the one the Eagles saw clearly when trading up to draft him, one validated by his 2017 regular season and far from destroyed by his difficult, post-injury 2018, is better than that of Foles, nearly four years Wentz's senior and absent many of the gifts that led Philadelphia to move on from Foles in the first place, years ago.

I am here as Clarence, Angel Second Class, to show you what life would be like if the Eagles follow through on their decision to trade Foles and keep Wentz, turning Philadelphia into Pottersville. Indeed, the only version of events where Carson Wentz would ever get a fair shot in Philadelphia now would require Clarence's skills, to turn Philadelphia into a place where Nick Foles never existed.

But he has. And the combination of where Wentz's career is financially, and the overwhelming burden that would come with Philadelphia choosing him over Foles now—there is virtually no version of events that works out to the benefit of Carson Wentz or the Eagles should they choose to commit to him. Not now, not after the Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots, the Philly Special and all that followed.

And certainly not after Foles has come out and once again lifted the Eagles—a franchise known for falling short of the outsized expectations the football-crazed city held for it for oh, say, five decades—into a place of unexpected joy once again.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

To understand how wrenching it would be for the city, please consider Foles within the context of what it means to be a Philadelphia folk hero.

He has brought the city to the pinnacle no one else did. There are plenty of others who can and will explain why it happened, how it happened. No matter. The thing is done, it did happen, and it was Nick Foles at the center of it all, Nick Foles whose touchdown catch is tattooed on the bodies of Eagles fans, and in the minds of a city, now and for as long as there are people talking football in that town.

Now Foles has returned to deliver again—he's moved past Vince Papale territory and into the land of Rocky Balboa, with a sequel that combined the mysticism of that double-caromed missed field goal accomplished while Foles played with bruised ribs. (It is worth noting that Rocky Balboa is a fictional character, yet Foles is real. He gets extra credit for that.) He is the ultimate underdog, yet somehow has delivered what the city yearned for in a way I don't think is comparable with any other city I've ever seen, save Boston circa 2004.

Cleveland wanted to win... something. Someday the Jets will win again, and some portion of New York will feel this current Philadelphia euphoria, but not the entire area. The Eagles are the religion of Philadelphia, and now Nick Foles is the Joshua Quarterback.

None of which is Carson Wentz's fault, a man who has done all asked of him, felled only by injury and the fate of getting acclimated to NFL life just as a franchise experienced a moment that will never be exceeded, no matter how many Super Bowls it wins. It will never matter this much that the Eagles won again. Just ask the good people of Boston how 2007 or 2013 or 2018 compared to 2004. The Red Sox are Boston's religion like the Eagles are Philly's.

But Boston didn't have to decide whether to keep David Ortiz or not after 2004. Nor is any position in baseball comparable to quarterback in football, both in terms of overall action and specifically in the emotional psyche of a fanbase.

But the Eagles face a clear and unavoidable question this offseason. They have an option on Carson Wentz after 2019 that would pay him almost $30 million in 2020. If Wentz is the guy, then Foles and his salary (which is almost entirely non-guaranteed) need to go. So it doesn't just means committing to Wentz. It means giving him the most money anyone in Eagles history has ever received, and specifically jettisoning Nick Foles in order to do so.

Try and imagine what Philadelphia is going to be like when Carson Wentz is merely ordinary. Imagine Philly the first time he doesn't lead them deep into the playoffs, or misses a game due to injury, leaving the Eagles without Wentz OR Foles.

What possible glory can Carson Wentz accomplish at Lincoln Financial Field that will satisfy Eagles fans who watched him supplant Nick Foles—and make no mistake, though Wentz started each of the past two seasons as the first-team quarterback, that's what Wentz would be doing.

Wentz has a bright future in the NFL. There are any number of teams that would pay the Eagles a king's ransom to acquire him. But if he stays in Philadelphia now, after Foles has become Nick Foles, Philly legend forever, he doesn't simply need to outperform Foles moving forward for the town to embrace him. He'll need to win multiple Super Bowls himself, he'll need to be the Most Valuable Player in them, and he might just need to go back in time and win Super Bowl LII for good measure.

That is too high a bar for anyone. And when he doesn't—well, if you know Philly at all, they're never going to let him forget it, not for a single week. Every single three-and-out will be laced with the curdled sound of angry men in their number 9 jerseys as Wentz trudges off the field, the sound that would have greeted Ryan Howard during his long contract extension if he'd been signed to it right after Philadelphia made room for Howard by trading the rights to a cheesesteak in the shape of the LOVE statue.

Instead, the Eagles can throw in their lot with Foles, and Howie Roseman, too—both can point to championship pedigree now. It doesn't guarantee a thing about the future, but it is emotional insurance for a fan base, an inescapable bonding from the past.

We don't really know what Philadelphia will do to Foles should the day come when he doesn't lead the Eagles to victory, but take it from someone who has observed this city up close for decades: they honor their heroes. If Foles throws five interceptions next week in New Orleans, if he never wins another game, Nick Foles will be a hero in Philadelphia for the next 100 years. Even if he goes elsewhere, even if he chose to go elsewhere, that would still be true—witness Cleveland's response to LeBron James when he came back after winning a championship earlier this season.

Philly holds onto its grudges, nurses them—ask anyone who was around in September 1964 about the Phillies. But ask, too, about the 1950 Whiz Kids, who didn't even win the World Series. This town honors its heroes, too, every Reggie White 92 and Randall Cunningham 12 that marches into Lincoln Financial Field serves as proof of that, the roar of the Wells Fargo Center crowd when Allen Iverson visits, the collective aural embrace of Dan Baker declaiming Chase Utley's name at Citizens Bank Park.

Foles 9 will be worn around this town forever as the ultimate way to do embrace him once he's gone, and if he goes due to the franchise's own choice, it'll be a conversation starter as frequent, and as bitter, as Gene Mauch's decision to shorten his rotation back in '64, or the weather in Chicago on New Year's Eve 1988. It'll take the prize in Philadelphia as the tragedy mask to pair with the comedy mask the whole place wore after Super Bowl LII, and indeed, is wearing once again.

It's long been argued that the Philadelphia Eagles cannot trade Carson Wentz, no matter what the present circumstances, because of what the future might hold. Whatever happens now, Nick Foles has changed that calculation forever. The Philadelphia Eagles cannot keep Carson Wentz, through no fault of his own. Not over Nick Foles. Not in this town, after these moments of irrevocable joy.

The Dodgers traded Jackie Robinson a year after he brought a World Series, finally, to Brooklyn. Robinson retired. The Dodgers themselves left a year later. Trading Jackie Robinson remained almost as vivid a hurt for Brooklyn fans as losing the franchise itself.

There are some moments for a franchise and its fans that transcend any cold calculations of on-field performance alone. It's no one's fault. But we're past the point where Nick Foles can be traded, Carson Wentz kept and asked to be something he cannot be, no matter how great he becomes. Sunday night in Chicago only reinforced that.

Only Nick Foles will be Nick Foles. And Philadelphia isn't going to accept anybody else. Certainly not now.

I am a writer/editor on WNBA/NBA/NWSL/MLB/NCAA women's, men's basketball and more. I've worked to equalize coverage between men's and women's sports, both in my own work and through creating infrastructure for it to do so in more permanent ways. I'm always curious, always se...

Ok, it's a problem with manually typing the quote tags but works right if I use that quote button above the text area.

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Dave, let'e look at Foles. The key is his desire to be the number one Quarterback. If he could just stay another year and relook his status, all parties might benefit. NF is not the first reserve to start and help his team to the big prize. I will list them but you know these guys better than I do. The Eagles are still a young team and I really think the we offer Foles the best opportunity to wind up in the Super Bowl again. The Eagles were only a few plays away from a 12-4 record. Even on the sidelines, he can offer valuable analysis of previous plays, why they did or did not work, and make rapid fire suggestions on play calling. A veteran quarterback on the sidelines is in some ways more valuable than the starter on the field.